Yankees fans needed a few days to determine if JC Escarra story was actually true

The New York Yankees have found that a right-handed-hitting catcher is one of their greatest roster needs. Austin Wells, J.C. Escarra, and Ben Rice are all left-handed bats. This was, of course, known over the offseason, but Wells' poor play has exacerbated the issue and made the situation more dire.

Unfortunately, the bulk of the right-handed-hitting catching trade targets are super underwhelming. However, we learned over the weekend that the club might have a solution without even making a move.

During the broadcast of New York's May 30 matchup against the Athletics, Michael Kay let it be known that he had spoken with J.C. Escarra about the 31-year-old taking up switch-hitting. We weren't sure what to make of this surreal development.

Randy Miller of NJ.com was one of the first on the scene, reporting that Escarra started taking some right-handed swings, mostly on underhanded tosses, for the last couple of weeks. However, the likelihood of Escarra being able to pull that off this season is slim.

“From my perspective, you hear that for the first time, I’ve got to see what J.C.’s thinking about,” hitting coach James Rowson said, per Miller. “I’m solely locked in on him hitting left-handed right now for this year, but if he was serious about that, then it would be more of a conversation to see where it went. But right now, that probably would be the last thing on my mind about J.C.

“I’m trying to think off the top of my head. Has anyone done it at this point in their career? A lot of guys earlier in their career have done it.”

Per Escarra, Rowson told him the best path to attempt to make this a reality is to give it a full go during the offseason.

Yankees fans shouldn't expect JC Escarra to pull off his switch-hitting gambit in 2026

It's nearly unheard of to convert to switch-hitting as a major league player. Granted, Escarra's rise to the big leagues has also been so unheard of that a filmmaker is trying to make a documentary about it. So, you can never count the former Uber driver out, but it will likely take an offseason of dedicated work.

Escarra does everything else right-handed, so the logic is understandable. That said, it's a lot harder in practice than it is in theory.

Then there's the question of whether or not making the change would even be worthwhile. For his career, Escarra has hit much better against lefties than he has righties, with a .333 average against southpaws versus a .116 mark when he has the platoon advantage. Granted, the backstop has only logged 30 career at-bats against left-handed pitching.

Aaron Boone and the Yankees have long touted Escarra and expressed their belief that he could provide much more than he's shown to date at the big league level. Escarra validating that confidence while hitting left-handed is the biggest thing he can do to help the Yankees right now. Curiously, despite the belief the club has in him, he still hasn't gotten more run as Wells falters.

So, yes, Escarra's switch-hitting experiment is real, but the chances of it paying off anytime soon, if ever, are very slim. As long as he and Wells struggle in the box, the more likely it is that the Yankees add a right-handed option by the deadline. Should that happen, it could be Escarra's roster spot that is on thin ice.

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